Help us #CuttheCarls Because Women are #MoreThanMeat

(This was originally posted in August 2014. We’re republishing as a refresher following Donald Trump’s selection of Carl’s Jr. CEO Andrew Puzder as U.S. Labor Secretary. See Puzder’s very telling quotes about objectification below. See Lindsay’s remarks in the Boston Globe on Dec. 10, 2016 about Puzder’s nomination here. )

By Lexie Kite, Ph.D., and Lindsay Kite, Ph.D.

SEX SELLS! Right, Carl’s Jr.?

The problem with everyone that uses idealized women’s bodies for their “sex sells” campaigns is that this is the least sexy thing they could possibly be selling. Messages that depict one narrow definition of “hot” and one way to think about, view, and use women — solely as an object for sexual pleasure — are actually damaging sexuality for both sexes by limiting what we perceive as “sexy” and keeping all of us preoccupied with looking “sexy” rather than enjoying sexuality.

Sexual objectification (ex: Carl’s Jr. commercials) is the process of representing or treating a person like an object that exists to serve another’s sexual pleasure. All hours of the day on mainstream TV, Carl’s Jr. among many others sells the common and dangerous lie that women are valuable for how sexy they appear to others. Because women’s sexuality isn’t for themselves, it’s for others’ viewing pleasure, right? Nope. We’ve posted about Victoria’s Secret, SI Swimsuit Issue, and many others, but today it’s time to talk about Carl’s Jr.

They teach girls and women they exist to be viewed and they must judge themselves by their sexual desirability to others, rather than in terms of their own health and desires. And with that life-threatening line of thinking comes depression, eating disorders, shame, decreased cognitive functioning, sexual dysfunction and inability to find satisfaction and pleasure in sexual experiences.* Suuuper sexy, right?

They work as a tool used to dehumanize, control, and abuse women. Viewing someone as an object is “almost always the first step toward justifying violence against that person.” It makes it easier to mistreat women when they are seen as objects – not people.*

But Carl’s Jr. doesn’t care about the public health crisis to which they are proud contributors. When women complain about their sexist ads, CJ literally replies with, “You aren’t our target demographic of 18- to 35-year-old men so we don’t care.” They only care about money. “The people we wanted to target were young, hungry guys. …We target hungry guys, and we get young kids that want to be young hungry guys,” says Andrew Puzder, CEO of Carl’s Jr.’s parent company and newly selected Labor Secretary under President-elect Donald Trump. He told Enterprise in May 2015: “I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it’s very American. I used to hear, brands take on the personality of the CEO. And I rarely thought that was true, but I think this one, in this case, it kind of did take on my personality.” Congratulations, Andrew! Your brand of blatant, proud dehumanization of women – equating objectified women’s bodies with the meant he wants “young hungry guys” to consume – is the reason we have to fight for women to be viewed as more than just bodies.

If Carl’s Jr. doesn’t care about women, let’s talk man to man.

Since BR’s co-directors are women (identical twins Lexie and Lindsay Kite), Lexie’s husband Travis has decided to step up to the plate. Travis is a “young, hungry guy” who fits squarely within CJ’s target demographic of 18-35, and he’s taking his appetite elsewhere. Will you?

To my fellow 18- to 35-year-olds:

Why do things have to be the way they are? Why does our demographic have to represent the scuzziest our society has to offer? When advertisers want our attention their first move is to wave some form of sex in our face. Sure that’s a given, but it doesn’t have to be. They keep using sex because we keep taking the bait. Because, sex sells, right? And we hear that phrase a lot, but it’s a little misleading. The advertisers aren’t using sex per se; they’re using women’s bodies. They take women and strip them down (literally and figuratively), removing everything that makes them human beings, and for years we’ve essentially said with our dollars that we were cool with it.

So now we come to Carl’s Jr. They took what all the other advertisers had done, then they went a little further, and then they deep fried it. And it makes me sick. And if it doesn’t make you sick, then you should probably turn off your internet machine, think really hard about how numb you are to stuff that is doing a lot of harm, and just have a conversation with a real woman. And just maybe think for one second about what it means for women to turn on the TV and see basically every woman stripped down to sell you things. Things as stupid as hamburgers. Don’t you see it!? Women are more than objects!

Sure, Carl’s Jr. isn’t the only one out there pulling this sort of crap, but why not start by pushing back against a company run by guys like Andrew Puzder who are brash enough to combine women and meat and feed it to us like we’re animals. Let’s stop buying their hamburgers. You can stop until they change their campaign or you can stop for life (I’ll probably #cutthecarls for life because I think they’re a bunch of jerks). We never should have let it get this far. Maybe, like me, you’ve cared about women and how they feel about this sort of thing all your life, but have mostly been on the sidelines. Well it’s time to step up to the plate, son. Let’s “man up” (to borrow their marketing slogan) and close down some Carl’s Jr.’s. And don’t stop there. There’s a lot of this business of treating women like they’re something less than human beings. Talk to any woman and she’ll tell you about it. This is about a lot more than not eating hamburgers. This is about showing the women you care about (and everyone else) that you won’t put up with this demeaning crap. You ain’t gotta buy it. If you don’t want to help then … whatever. You and the guy who lives in his mom’s basement can go get some soggy burgers and talk about Transformers 5 to your heart’s content.**

Here’s how you can join us:

Share this post with Travis’s photo, or your own similar photo, asking others (especially 18- to 35-year-old men) to #cutthecarls.

Take to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and all of social media to talk back to Carl’s Jr. and tell them you’re taking your appetite elsewhere. Go nuts with the hashtags #cutthecarls and #morethanmeat.

Check out what others are doing in this same fight! As we were writing up this campaign, a guy named Ryan Hawks posted his own plea to talk back to CJ, and we jumped on his #cutthecarls hashtag to keep the momentum going!

Most of all, full-on boycott Carl’s Jr. Not even on a road trip when it’s the only restaurant for miles. Vote with your dollars.

Check out part of our CNBC interview from September 2014 here. (Of course they featured a highly objectifying Carl’s Jr. ad for much of the segment, so be aware of that imagery. Feel free to listen, not watch.) Read Lindsay’s remarks in the Boston Globe on Dec. 10, 2016 about the Puzder nomination here.

Need help developing body image resilience that can help you overcome your self-consciousness and be more powerful than ever before? Learn how to recognize harmful ideals, redefine beauty and health, and resist what holds you back from happiness, health, and real empowerment with the Beauty Redefined Body Image Program for girls and women 14+. It is an online, anonymous therapeutic tool that can change your life, designed by Lexie & Lindsay Kite, with PhDs in body image and media.

*We won’t make you read our whole Ph.D. dissertations (Kite, 2013 & Kite, 2013), so we’ll direct you to this awesome report from the American Psychological Association that rounds up huge amounts of research on objectification and its effects on society here.

**We decided to leave Travis’s words unedited, though his last sentence is a departure from our regular tone. No offense to anti-objectification basement dwellers was intended.

117 Comments

Lex
on August 29, 2014 at 4:53 am

Your final sentences in this article fighting female stereotypes is attacking another demographic: socially-awkward geeky 18-35 year olds. You’re also attacking the quality of the burger, which is unnecessary.

This is the most PATHETIC thing I have yet to see. You really all just need to focus on something more important. You are just as bad, if not worse, trying to sabotage a business just because you don’t like the way they portray women. SEX sells. It always has, it always will. You are not going to change that. Why don’t you put your time and efforts into something more important like homelessness or starving children, or child abuse. GET A LIFE!!!

Jace Sharp, if this is the most pathetic thing you have yet to see, you live in an amazing world and we’d like to be part of it! From what I see about you on Facebook, you have a beautiful cover photo with two little girls. I imagine you care about those girls. Do you know what it feels like for those two little girls to see oiled up, gyrating, sexually objectified parts of women’s bodies on TV during their morning TV time? Because they see it. And it hurts them. It teaches them that to be loved, to be desirable, to be a woman, they should be valued for their bodies over all else. And if they haven’t already, they’ll soon start telling you they think they are “too fat” or “too ugly” and your heart will break. Their objectified feelings toward their bodies comes from them growing up in a world where girls and women’s bodies are constantly sold as sexual objects for others’ pleasure. It is alarming to me that you and so many other men who claim to love girls and women wouldn’t be very much on board this fight.

You just don’t get it. Sadly, I do. My older brothers had access to Playboy magazines when they were growing up. The pictures taught them to look at me, their little sister, as not a person at all but a thing to use to gratify themselves. I was, to various degrees, molested. Then violently and sadistically sexually assaulted (i.e. raped). This destroyed my childhood, and left me so shattered that in my fifties now, I am still putting the pieces myself, my mind, back together again. Now Carl’s wishes to objectify women as if it is all good fun. Well, it’s not fun. It is pathetic. And Paris Hilton and the other woman think it is worth the money to be play along with this. I’m sad or them, too.

Dorothy, I wish I could give you a big hug. I’m in my 60s now and never had to go through that horrendous torture, but I am a woman, so my heart aches for you. Best of wishes as you continue to put back the piece of your broken soul. You are probably a remarkable woman.
Back in our day those things were not talked about. Today it’s talked about but that doesn’t seem to be helping. I don’t know what the answer is for our sorry world. Anyway, know that my heart goes out to you.

You need to spend only a few hour among middle school aged girls to see the horrible effects these kinds of images are having on women. These poor girls are too young to realize that the behavior in these commercials is not how actual women behave. They then incorporate what they have seen into their world view and start acting like those women in the ads thinking its normal and how you get attention and love. Yes, its the way that the world is, and its spiraling out of control, and our future will be terrifying as this continues.

Viewing women as objects is the first step towards abuse, because if they objects to be used for sexual pleasure, it doesn’t matter what they feel, right? Just a few comments below yours shares a story of child abuse that started with viewing Playboy magazines.

The objectification of women leads to eating disorders, mental illness, rape, abuse, and human trafficking. It IS a big deal.

Addressing the medias portrayal of women IS VERY important work. Images such as these permeate our culture, and do massive amounts of harm to females. Your comment is proof of the damage that is being done to males psyches when you choose to defend a fast food chain over the respect and dignity of half of the human population.

James you are a complete moron if you think this is not a serious issue. This is how the desensitization toward promiscuity starts in our children. They see one small thing…then another, until it is no big deal to them to see half naked women groping each other.
Children are our future leaders…and I want them to have a view of the world not skewed and have them with a few ethics still intact when they reach adulthood.
Also if you believe this is not pornography you are also wrong…anything that entices someone to feel sexually aroused in any way is porn, and these commercials border on lesbianism with half naked women. Studies sshow that most men have their first interaction with hardcore porn before age 14…and also show that most men who have intimacy problems and many breakups of relationships do so because they cannot view sex as an act of true connection…they are desensitized by it, having seen it from such a young age.
I also can tell you that I know how many families are broken because ofporn addiction. My own sister had to end her marriage, even after years of counseling. My brother in law, who is a great guy, could not connect with her on many levels and they had many problems in the bedroom because of it.
You may say…oh well how can you make so much out of a hamburger commercial…and you are right sex does sell, but the point is that it shouldnt be thrown in our faces during regular tv time. Yes it is our job to keep our kids from these things if we dont want them exposed, but if now its being just popped into regular programming how can we shield them from that?…just lock them away. And what the hell do two scantily clad women have to do with a hamburger?…nothing.
The fact that you see nothing wrong with this goes to prove my point right there…

James, it’s easy for you to sweep this issue under the rug and say it’s not a problem, because you are coming from a place of privilege (a man) whom this problem doesn’t affect. If the problem doesn’t affect you, you have no right to say it’s not a real problem. It IS a real problem to the millions of women that it affects. So you either do something to help or you STFU.

I agree with Lex. That last line is terrible. It makes me very reluctant to share this article. There was absolutely no need for it and it actually undermines the very good points which were made. One of the most important rules when writing is that people tend to remember the beginning and the end of an article. To have that line even in the article is a bad idea. To have it at the end? Good way to make people ignore everything you had to say.

Excellent point, in regards to finishing the article. Insulting others really doesn’t strengthen the message. Though that demographic is the primary supporter of the objectification of women. But its still a weak conclusion. Say what you are going to say…say it…say what you said. Those are the three parts of a persuasive article.

I hope you noticed that the quote you are taking issue with is from Travis, Lexie’s husband who wanted to speak out about this issue. We told him we’d use his unedited words if he wanted to contribute. You’re right that his statement doesn’t fit with our general tone, but we don’t see a need to cut it. We used our research throughout our words in the post to demonstrate the problem, and we really don’t see how his joking comment at the end undermines all of our points. It is quite a stretch to say this targets socially awkward 18- to 35-year-olds. It’s a little harsh against pro-objectification basement dwellers, yes. But you should see what the pro-objectification basement dwellers are saying about us on the web right now. Or don’t, because it’s the vilest things that could be said about anyone ever. Shocking, really.

I shed tears when I saw this. I am the original protester of Carl’s Jr. who received the email from their corporate office saying their target audience was “young hungry guys.” My name was April Fronk at the time.

As a feminist, I cringe when I see any CJ’s ads (which I come across much less frequently after switching to streaming-only media – a great way to take more control over what messaging comes into my home).

But as a full-time marketer, I completely understand why CJ’s hasn’t stopped these ads.

The sad truth is, there *are* scuzzy guys out there. They buy Axe deodorant and eat at Carl’s Junior. They clearly aren’t interested in the public health crisis or even their personal health (CJ’s is not a very good burger). They aren’t interested in feminist issues, either.

You explained it yourself in your post:

“When women complain about their sexist ads, CJ literally replies with, ‘You aren’t our target demographic of 18- to 35-year-old men so we don’t care.’ They only care about money. ‘The people we wanted to target were young, hungry guys. …We target hungry guys, and we get young kids that want to be young hungry guys,’ says Andrew Puzder, the chief exec Carl’s Jr.’s parent company. So obviously Andrew doesn’t care about anyone. Period.”

(BTW, that last line, “So obviously Andrew doesn’t care about anyone”, is kind of unmerited. He clearly just explained who he cares about, and that textual temper tantrum weakens your argument.)

Whether Carl’s Junior runs these ads or not, these kinds of crappy people are going to exist. Here is the important part: the ads are a response to a segment of our society no other big players in the fast food industry are targeting so directly. From a marketing point of view (the only POV that matters to CJ’s executives and shareholders, realistically), targeting the people most likely to eat at Carl’s is smart.

CJ’s isn’t about morality or making society better. It’s about selling burgers to make more money, period. That means they have to target the only kinds of people that will eat their gross food, and that means targeting gross men of a certain social demographic. I think this post misses that point.

Think about it: when was the last time anyone you knew who wasn’t a disgusting slob ate at a Carl’s Junior? People like you and me – people who want society to improve – stopped eating there years ago.

I’m not trying to say your campaign isn’t going to work. Hopefully the pressure from the (smart!) hashtag use will lead to a nice backlash. But as long as there are gross men out there to target, they’ll keep using this kind of advertising.

I think this is a really weak argument that is insulting to women, men, marketers and good business ethics. I get that businesses need to make money (I have an MBA, fwiw). But there is simply no way you can convince me that the only way for CJ to make money is to continue *this* kind of targeted marketing.

The best marketers are creative. This isn’t creative marketing. It’s cheap and crass. But I think you probably nailed it in this regard: If CJ’s wants to target *that* demographic, and is *that* unapologetic about it, then that is all the more reason for people to take a stand and not give them business.

p.s. I agree that cheap shots against Andrew in general weaken the argument. Let’s stick with the facts and let people decide what they think about how CJ does business.

When did I say this was the only way for them to make money? It’s obviously not. And I never said it wasn’t lazy. I was sharing how they view the issue.

My point was that their messaging is effective in reaching their target audience (slobs with bad taste in burgers) and that people like you and me already don’t eat there, so they won’t be concerned about a boycott. Who cares if non-customers decide they won’t eat at your restaurant, right? That’s like vegans boycotting a steakhouse, to make a lazy metaphor.

WOW! Thank you soooo much for this campaign! Quite funny actually since I have been on the verge of a campaign myself–especially after their most recent ad. I will do my best to spread this, but I want to do more! How can we get a large message to Carl’s Jr.? Huge petition? Tweets? I don’t know, but it needs to happen. I have only found a tiny handful of very small, and seemingly unsuccessful attempts at taking them down and something needs to change. Please let me know if there is more that can be done to mobilize and globalize this boycott : ) Thanks!!

I have posted my disgust with this latest add. I have emailed them. I have called and spoken to their office (even spoke to a live person) AND I went into the my local CJs that I have used for the last 10 years as a very regular customer. I shared my feeling that they are not selling their great food…they have stooped to selling sex! I was given the very same answer that the demographics show that the men 17-25 were they largest number of people who cater to their business. I told them that their food speaks for itself and that until these last few commercials it was a family place for myself, my 5 children and my 20 grandchildren!!!

This is great! I wrote an article that was published today by familyshare.com (http://www.familyshare.com/why-carls-jr-is-making-it-hard-on-us-parent) calling out Carl’s Jr.’s inappropriate commercials, and how they are negatively affecting our kids. I’m glad so many are banding together and spreading the word about Carl’s Jr.’s degrading marketing tactics. I hope we can make a difference.

Thanks for taking a stand! In all honesty, I think we need to boycott Carl’s Jr. along as Andrew Puzder is CEO. It’s not the restaurant we hate, it’s him. As long as he’s the CEO, they will not see a penny of our business. Most of the people who don’t believe that this is a big issue don’t realize that these commercials are on national TV at times where the youngest of viewers, like my sweet three year old, see these images before their parents can rush to find the remote and shut the TV off. What would happen if this commercial was playing at your child’s preschool so that Carl’s Jr. could reach their coveted demographic among the teachers? There would be an uproar, lawsuits would be filed, and people would be fired. Yet, this is exactly what happens when it airs on national television during prime time. It meets the FCC’s own definition of prohibited obscenity and indecency, yet it’s being aired.

As a parent, I feel like my right to raise my child and teach her about sexuality when/how I deem is appropriate is being infringed upon. My daughter’s right to learn about sexuality at a developmentally appropriate age (not three years old) is being infringed upon, not to mention all the other damage that pornographic/explicit images cause on young impressionable brain. The UK passed laws to protect their children from pornographic and explicit content. Why can’t we? Have we become that passive? Has big business bought that right to have innocent children from us? If Carl’s Jr. wants to target that demographic, let them target it alongside adult content meant for mature audiences and NOT during prime time that is subject to the FCC’s regulations. Let’s boycott Carl’s Jr. until Andrew Puzder is forced to step down!!!

Thank you so much for posting a stance on this issue. I too have emailed carls jr and received this response. I can’t believe how a “family” restaurant can get away with such inappropriate advertising, airing all hours of the day. Hopefully, with more support, we can show carls jr that they have just gone too far.

Our family of 8 boycotted Carl’s Jr. years ago. They have lost a lot of money because of it. I am the typical soccer mom that doesn’t have a lot of time to cook these days and we run around and eat fast food weekly (unhealthy I know) but it’s how we are surviving right now. I emailed them a couple times and received the same response as you. Thank you for making this go viral!!!

Just a couple of bored, PhD-holding co-directors of our own nonprofit foundation over here! Adorable, Jake P. But you are clearly a very busy man who only spends his time in the most productive of ways, so please don’t let us hold you up any longer.

Yeah, and you’re a dude who has nothing better to do then comment on this “waste of time” issue. You are also defending a greedy corporation that sells artery-clogging garbage to an increasingly obese population – so who’s pathetic now?

You people really need to get a life. If you don’t like the commercials here’s an idea Don’t watch them. If you don’t want your kids watching them be a parent and change the channel.Adults should not have watch they watch censored because other people don’t want to parent

I refuse to even pull in for a pitstop anymore. I used to love eating there but their ads disgust me and I am horrified to have my children sitting next to me watching what SHOULD BE an innocuous tv show when their filth comes on. I scramble to change the channel but they see plenty beforehand. Thank you for respecting women. You wife is a lucky girl.

I’ll take this seriously when the virtuous kite sisters target HBO and company. Humans are objectified all over the media because we have a culturally idealized body for both sexes (old spice guy http://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE). Their ads are nothing more than another example of the problem of hyper-sexualized media in general. Fortunately, I can separate the ideal from reality – the ability to do this is a mark of wisdom – and I don’t flagellate myself for not looking like the old spice guy, nor do I get insanely jealous of my wife being attracted to that either. Maturity? That said I’m all for toning down sex in media, but this isn’t exclusively a women’s issue and it is clear these sisters have an unhealthy focus on gender as Lex pointed out the last sentence is very revealing.

I for one will not stop going there since they have the best lettuce wrapped fast food burger I’ve ever had. The Guacamole Bacon $6 burger lettuce wrapped is amazing!

If Carl’s Jr. were smart their next ad would feature some bare chested manscaped Atlas and a female counterpart eating hamburgers together and say “We objectify equally!”

Caleb, we (the virtuous Kite sisters) target all kinds of objectifying media makers (Victoria’s Secret, SI Swimsuit Issue, etc.), so why is this campaign so laughable while targeting HBO would be so laudable? Congrats to you for not flagellating yourself for not looking like the Old Spice guy, but we’re grateful men aren’t subjected to the level of constant appearance-focused objectification that women are subjected to from every possible angle at all hours of the day. We hope it never comes to that, as we are not equal opportunity objectifiers. That helps no one. You are completely delusional if you don’t believe women are sexualized and objectified to an unbelievably greater degree than men in our culture. For you to call our expertise in female body image an “unhealthy focus on gender” makes me think you’re a bit blind to the gender disparity in our world.

First of all, parents should teach their children to be confident so that scantily clad, drug addicted, anorexic woman who should eat more burgers, won’t bother them. Second, it isn’t Carl’s Jr.’s job to do anything but try and sell their aweful burgers by any means necessary, and sex sells. Instead of this campaign, make one less used, as the anti model for Carl’s is done once every 5-10 years; and one that educates parents on how to raise confident children regardless of their image. >.>

Hey Mouse! Take 15 seconds to check out any page on this site to see what we do, which is “educate [everyone] on how to raise confident children{and be a confident person] regardless of their image.” Great tip though! Keep em comin!

Is any amount of confidence and self esteem going to make anyone, male or female, ok with the objectification of women that feeds into a level of insensitivity that is behind molestation, rape and even murder? It is BECAUSE we have self esteem that we speak up for ourselves and against degrading and demeaning media portrayals of women (even sleazy burger commercials).

Is any amount of confidence and self esteem going to make anyone, male or female, ok with the objectification of women that feeds into a level of insensitivity that is behind molestation, rape and even murder? It is BECAUSE we have self esteem that we speak up for ourselves and against degrading and demeaning media portrayals of women (even sleazy burger commercials).

Thanks Tango! Our jealousy and envy must be PRETTY severe for it to compel us to earn bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in the study of how objectification hurts people and how to fight back against it, huh?

This is going to be a very successful campaign. Already Steve and Tango have vowed to eat more Carl’s burgers. Hopefully we can get all the guys who think it is their divine right to enjoy sleazy commercials at the expense of the general population of women to eat more artery-clogging burgers. Very soon the world will be free of them and able to advance at an unprecedented rate.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if I could just decide not to watch the commercial?

Or if it comes on when my kids are in the room, “be a parent” and turn it off?

Honestly, I don’t have TV in my home (except Netflix. Seriously, why does anyone do anything other than Netflix these days? Who has the patience for commercials?). So I don’t have to worry about this commercial just coming on, or my children being exposed to it.

But I still care. I care because I don’t live in an isolated universe where all of the people I see each day also make the same choices I make. I don’t live in a world where people refuse to expose themselves to commercials such as these, or see them and can recognize them for the lies they sell. Instead, I live in a world where people celebrate these kinds of commercials. I live in a world where bR identifies the harm they cause, and people applaud them for bringing their attention to it so they can patronize Carl’s Jr more. Because it’s a free country, right? And freedom means we can objectify whomever we want!

So when those people see these commercials, glamorizing the sexualization of women’s bodies, reducing them only to things instead of humans, there is a shift in their perspective. A woman is an object. A woman’s body is inherently sexual, and is for the taking. So I go to the grocery store. I go jogging. I take my kids to the park. I go to work. Everywhere I go, I see people, and those people who have internalized the damaging messages these advertisements sell look at me as not a person, but as something that is valuable only as much as they find it (my body) sexually appealing.

It’s not about being jealous. My body is amazing– it is about to give me my fourth child, it lets me run, it allows me to do all the things I enjoy every single day. I do not envy another person’s body, as it doesn’t come with my body’s history. It is about how normalizing women as just bodies affects me. How it affects my children. It affects how safe I am in this world.

I strongly agree that women should be respected. One way to respect them is to treat them like a lady, not a piece of meat. As a mother of two boys I am constantly at war with magazine covers, tv ads, and other pornographic material. The human body is beautiful so lets treat it as such. And not some sex symbol.

You girls need to get a life. Why is it men have to put up with all of the personal women’s care items that children are seeing, you are not saying anything about Victoria’sSecret are you? You need to chose a battle that will actually help your cause, not attack a hamburger ad.

To the guy complaining about having to see commercials about women’s personal care items — I bet the erectile disfunction commercials are far more plentiful!! But such commercials do not make women unsafe. That is the real issue here — young men being trained to see women as things for their own sexual gratification. That does make women unsafe. That is why in America one in three young women will be molested before the age of 18! Enough already. A woman’s life is shattered by sexual abuse. Your life will not be shattered if you do not get to see hyper-sexual ads like Carl’s. Grow up.

I’m proud to say that I have not eaten at Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s since they used Paris Hilton in their ads and had Sports Illustrated swimsuit cups in 2005. Until then, we took the kids there to play a couple times a month. I’m not going to support a company that is promoting an idea that hurts my family.

I will now start to eat at Carl Jr.’s to counteract that some of you don’t. This is a ridiculous campaign. A complete waste of time that will do nothing. If you want to have a discussion on how to value women, then start the discussion in our home. No one can make you feel bad about yourself except you.

The threat by Steve to start eating Carl’s burgers to counteract the effect of those of us who are boycotting Carl’s is hysterical. Great — give yourself a big fatty-burger induced heart attack. That will show us! Steve’s comment about “no one can make you feel bad about yourself except you” is absurd. Try telling that to a seven year old girl is raped and molested by young men trained via trashy media to view her as an object. Get real, Steve!!

Way to step up and do something that is not “socially acceptable” but needs to be done. I don’t have cable or traditional TV and so I rarely see commercials. A few weeks ago I was at a friend’s house watching a football game and the Carl’s ad came on. I had not previously heard anything about it and didn’t know what I was about to be subject to. It was AWFUL! Cut the Carl’s folks, it’s the right thing to do. Thanks again Beauty Redefined for stepping up. You are doing an amazing thing! Women are certainly more than meat and men who don’t know that don’t deserve to be with them. Period.

It saddens me to see commenters justifying objectification in themedia, or saying they won’t support this campaign because it might not change the company, or because it’s focused on the “wrong” company or gender. Objectification is never OK. Ever. Let’s oppose it on every form, and support one another. Even if only one person realizes that appearance does not equal worth, it is worth it.

I find it interesting that Dorothy talks about a young girl who is raped and molested in the same article about a hamburger ad. Yes, of course Carl Jr.s ad will lead all young men to rape young girls. It has nothing to do with how the men were brought up, or what they were taught by their parents. It has all to do with a commercial that shows two women in bikini’s eating a hamburger. Grow up Dorothy, If you have low self esteem, fix it! I notice that the two women who started this campaign wear makeup. Are they not contributing to women being objectified by wearing makeup?

Comparing the use of makeup (some guys where it too) with the sleazy portrayal of women in ads is just plain silly. You are comparing self expression with objectification. One is harmless, the other is not. Any college-level basic psychology course could teach Steve and anyone else that media can foster a perception of women that does affect their well-being (in a positive or negative way). It has been crushing the health and well-being of young girls with impossible (often airbrushed) ideas of “beauty.” It has also sent a message to young men that women are merely bodies rather than thinking, feeling, whole human beings with hopes and dreams as well as ideas and opinions of value. Every single day in America women are being beaten, raped, killed. Anything that works against turning that around — even a hamburger ad — has to be addressed by a thinking nation.

Yo Steve, objectification of women is very much tied to violence against women. You could brush up on some of that research before mocking someone else for demonstrating that connection in her own life. And yes, we do wear makeup, and no, that does not in any way contribute to us or any other woman being viewed or treated as an object. Care to explain how you believe it does?

Back then I wrote, “pondering the pornification of crass burger wars, beyond the obviously crude depiction of females as edible objects, (“More than just a piece of meat” is the slogan) the “corporate response” received by Amplify Your Voice writer April Fronk was akin to a ‘talk to the hand and by the way bite me’ approach dissing females and families as customers entirely by choosing to name ‘young, hungry guys’ as their target market. Not smart, people; even if it may be demographically correct.”

Fast forward to the publicity and ‘exposure’ it’s getting AGAIN in 2014 with the same trashy line…and it seems the petition/hashtag shoutout is the best way to do some wallet whacking in the ASSets…(that said, it may continue to amp the media volume w/badvertising blitz)

After all, using raunch culture as a lazy, sloppy sales aid extends to MANY players in this game…from Burger King’s crass ‘super seven incher, to KFC “Double Down” ASSvertising and beyond…etc. I’ve been covering this drek for over 7 years now on Shaping Youth’s forum about media and marketing’s impact on kids…and if anything, we’re going BACKwards.

So yes, let’s ditch and dump the ad campaign and use media literacy education, but let’s also find the pain point in the larger context and take economic action that sticks so we don’t have to keep revisiting the same sorry slop five years down the line…Let’s bring in public health experts, the APA, the AMA, the AAP and start connecting the dots at how this soul-eroding objectification is causing quantifiable harm…at a high societal cost.

After seeing the news clip I took the time to google Beauty Redefined. I searched for and read the entire blog and all the comments and was saddened to see the ENTIRE concept and your credibility undermined by the following ending comments:

“You ain’t gotta buy it. If you don’t want to help then … whatever. You and the guy who lives in his mom’s basement can go get some soggy burgers and talk about Transformers 5 to your heart’s content.”

REALLY?

You undermined your own credibility and the message in my eyes with that remark. You have PhDs! Use the education you have! If your objective was to persuade people to share your views and support your vision, I suggest you don’t insult those that may be on the edge or 100% onboard.

I understand what Nick is trying to say, but I have to politely disagree. The comment about soggy burgers and the guy who lives in his mom’s basement was not meant (I believe) to be insulting but rather illustrative of a level of maturity and real world experience which leads to an understanding of the great danger that media’s portrayal of women can place us in. At that level of maturity, people get it. Below that level of maturity, they don’t.

First let me say I am trying to “Help (you)#CuttheCarls Because Women are #MoreThanMeat‏”!

Just a little about me so you understand where I am coming from. I am 53, a grandfather of 4 grand daughters, a care giver for a dependent mother or 29 years. In addition, I have 10+ years past High School of a widely based education. I have spent 30+ years of my life selling intangibles (ideas and concepts) as a professional. I would like to think that I am educated, compassionate, mature and that “I get it”. That being said my point is as follows:

I believe as you stated the problem resides largely with those who are “Below that level of maturity, they don’t (get it).” Furthermore it has been stated that the target market of the ad campaign is in essence “18 to 35 year old hungry males”. For the sake of clarity the undermining comment (as I feel it to be) was:

“You ain’t gotta buy it. If you don’t want to help then … whatever. You and the guy who lives in his mom’s basement can go get some soggy burgers and talk about Transformers 5 to your heart’s content.”

The intent of the comment is far less relevant than the effect! I felt the effect of that insult (meant in jest or not) only served to undermine the concept as it was needless and inappropriate to insult and/or demean the “Target Market” that you need to persuade to be effective in this campaign resulting in meaningful change.

That being said, if someone like me found that inappropriate and insulting, how do you think that made the very group of people you need on board to be effective feel?

The fact that it was the husband of one of the bloggers/Sister Phds is far less relevant than the fact that those comments were allowed to be incorporated into this presentation by the Phds. With the Phds education and background, I would expect they would know that comment would be akin to shooting the desired result of the argument in the foot by serving to alienate the “Target Market”!

The question herein is, do you want the “warm fuzzy’s” of success in the campaign OR are you satisfied hurling “cold pricklies” at the very people you need on board to be effective?

Personally, I am of the belief that if you want to be effective in changing the thoughts and behavior of a society, you have to convince those people that disagree; or, do not share your same level of concern or point of view. In my experience that is rarely achieved when you insult those people (intended or not).

Nick, clearly you do have the maturity and real life experience to “get it.” I still like the “basement dwellers” comment. That statement made it very clear to me that a certain segment of the population (and of Carl’s customers) are not going to get what this boycott is all about. In the meantime, the soccer mom’s and other women who decide for themselves and for their families what restaurant they are going to pull into to grab a quick bite will be taking a bite out of Carl’s profits by staying away.

Hi Nick, thanks for digging into our research! I hope you noticed that the quote you are taking issue with is from Travis, Lexie’s husband who wanted to speak out about this issue. We told him we’d use his unedited words if he wanted to contribute. You’re right that his statement doesn’t fit with our general tone, but we don’t see a need to cut it. We used our research throughout our words in the post to demonstrate the problem, and we really don’t see how his joking comment at the end undermines all of our points. It’s a little harsh against pro-objectification basement dwellers, yes. But you should see what the pro-objectification basement dwellers are saying about us on the web right now. Or don’t, because it’s the vilest things that could be said about anyone ever. Shocking, really. Either way, thanks for your support (up to that point).

I would like to thank you for your research and if you understand my comments above (in my response to Dorothy) for what they are intended to be (constructive), I believe you will clearly see I continue to be supportive.

Also, PLEASE NOTE:

I NEVER said that the comment undermined any of your points! I said:

“You undermined your own credibility and the message in my eyes with that remark.”

If I did not find your points to be valid and well founded, I would not have taken the time of day to share the effect that one single comment like that had on the very valuable and needed message.

As respects “what the pro-objectification basement dwellers are saying” I have a suggestion/idea/concept or two to share that hopefully helps.

First, never loose site of the fact that in the big picture of things the goal is to win the war not a small battle. You should never undermine your message by playing a war of words with an idiot! You do not need to lower yourself to that.

Secondly, always keep this in mind “Some people do not want to be confused with facts!”

In closing I will say that like Jane Bond (below) I do believe that there are MANY worthy causes. Unlike Jane, I do feel that if people like yourselves focus on the areas they CAN make a difference, our world has a chance of becoming a better place.

People, Please pay attention. With all the problems in America these 2 are concerned about Carl’s Jr.
sexy ads. Why not focus on the take over by anti-America /individual/groups be it political or cultural.
The country is going down the drain, record unemployment, UNDER employment, record people on Medicaid, Welfare and every other Public Assistance that’s available. Non-existent immigration just ILLEGAL Migration and the list goes on. Home grown terrorists and the like. Why not start a volunteer group to visit hospitals for Veterans, Cancer patients, Children’s Hospitals and cheer up the poor souls that are suffering.
Because of your lack of compassion I will double my patronage of Carl’s Jr. and I will be sure to tell friends, relatives to do the same. I did that with Chic-Fil-A as many others and look how much more successful they are.

Sex Sells and will always sell……..Big Time. Check out a Car Show to name just one.
Let’s do a test. Put Travis alone with one of the Beauties from the Carl’s Jr. ads and watch him on a hidden camera. Let’s have the model come-on to Travis. Unless Travis is a eunuch we all know what will happen.
Another thing, if you 2 were truly women’s advocates, THERE WOULD NOT BE ANYTHING FOR SALE OR A DONATION BOX on your website. So you are EXPLOITING women and Idiot men and are NO BETTER THAN Carl’s Jr. or any of the other entities who use Beautiful women for their ads.

You can count in your list of problems in America today that we should be concerned about the alarming numbers of women and girls being beaten, raped, killed, exploited, molested and otherwise harmed by those who would see them as objects rather than valuable human beings. Carl’s ads are part of that. It is a huge problem, and just like terrorism we have to start where we can. You can’t go over to Iraq and take on the terrorists, but you can be vigilant as to what is going on around you and report anything suspicious. We can’t stop all exploitation of women today, but we can boycott Carl’s. As with fighting terrorism, it is better to do something rather than nothing.

Also, I’m not quite understanding your hierarchy of concerns. I could build on your reasoning and say that because children are dying of cancer we should not be concerned about non-terminal illnesses in older people. And because people are murdered we should not be concerned about animals being abused. And because the polar ice caps are melting we should not be concerned about the over-use of pesticides our neighborhoods. I think we can be concerned about Carl’s harmful objectification of women AND be concerned about terrorism, the state of the economy, the state of the environment and so forth. Human intelligence can handle multiple concerns.

Ok, let’s see if we got this straight: there are other problems in the world, so no one should address this one. Right? We have PhDs in the study of media and body image, and how to resist harmful influences like Carl’s Jr.’s ads. Our expertise is best used in this realm. Not US strategic defense. That doesn’t mean US strategic defense isn’t extremely important. Get it? It’s not a zero-sum game. Just because we fight objectification, that doesn’t mean we’re pro-ISIS.

I’m not even going to address that ridiculous section about Travis and CJ’s model. Insanity. No sense whatsoever.

Also, we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation. Why on earth is there a problem with selling merchandise and accepting donations that support our charitable efforts?!? We are exploiting women and idiot men by collecting donations? I am so lost right now. Help!

And sex is a major concern in our country today. It is right up there with cancer, terrorists, etc. The reason??? Our youth is our future. They are going to run this country. They can’t play a game, watch tv, a movie, or clearly eat a hamburger without sex. That is how they are growing up.
So let’s see…in 10 or 20 years, our President (our youth) won’t have to be asked if he/she ever smoked a little weed. Instead the questions are going to be about nudity, multiple partners, topless bars, sex.
That’s just not a future that I want to see.

Leave Carls Jr Alone , We dont have Carls Jr anywhere near us , So I cannot judge their food. But If you need to complain and solve something then take care of hunger in this country, Their is something worth fighting for!. These two women are just jealious of of the actors bodies cause they themselves are over weight and not attractive . Oh and by the way I’m Gay and I think the commercials are awesome! So you two girls go stuff a burger in your face and shut up! Thanks!!!!

In SC this co. is called Hardees. They have the same ads. For the first time in my life I have been truly offended by an advertisement. I’ve seen a lot I didn’t like but never offended. I wrote the co. an e mail and told them this. This ad is nothing more than soft porn. It also makes me sad that in a big co. like this the person in charge of advertising decisions is obviously a 13 year old boy. Terrible strategy for the company. It doesn’t matter how smart or intelligent these women are it is still porn.

I did get an e mail reply that they are sorry to offend but basically nothing will change in their ad.
Hopefully if they get enough opposition and boycotting they will drop the ad. Here’s hoping.

evieb: Soft porn??? I am willing to wager that you watch daytime “soaps” which many are soft porn. How about some movies that have soft porn that are not part of the plot but SEX SELLS. Wake up and smell the coffee, soft porn in many forms is here and here to stay.

Jane — what about all the thriving businesses that don’t use sex to sell things? All sorts of things other than sex sells. Carl’s has a choice. They could find a clever way to sell things — they could use humor. I frequently watch ITV and BBC (because my brain feels like it is shrinking when I watch American television) and have not seen one single sleazy ad like Carl’s. I see lots of very funny and clever ads. And on American television, I like the AllState commercials — that guy with his serious, concerned, no-nonsense voice makes me want to get their car insurance. If he were half naked, rubbing himself on the car while talking about car insurance, you can bet I would be turned off. He wouldn’t make me feel like I was in good hands. So other things besides sex sells. Carl’s is losing the family market. Clearly sex is not selling to a large segment of the fast food consumers. To totally rely upon the teenage boy segment seems about as limited and foolish as their commercials.

I have never eaten at Carl’s Jr. (remember the Miss Turkey model?)…and I never will. I hate their ads, and for that reason alone, my family won’t eat there.
They know what they’re doing…it’s not about strong women. It’s about sex. It’s a joke. And I have no idea why people need sex to eat!!!
There is nothing beautiful about the girls in the ads. Look at them in real life…

Sorry, I don’t have Twitter or Facebook but know that I am in this fight with everyone!

I looked at the picture of the two women leading this campaign, and they are beautiful — how can you not see that!? And here is this thing again where we should not be concerned about the objectification of women in the media because there is some other problem in the world!? This makes no sense. The exploitation of the earth and overpopulation are root causes of hunger and tie in closely with devaluing that which is seen as female. The places in the world where starvation is rampant are places where women have almost no rights at all (not even the right to control their own reproduction). When women are respected, the earth and everyone on it benefits. A previous comment urged people to “connect the dots.” You are clearly not connecting the dots.

Dorothy,
Please don’t objectify Lexie and Lindsay. I am sure they are beautiful on the inside. Their outside appearance should not matter. If they were ugly they would still have the right to deliver their message.

Steve, my reply was to Anthony who said , “These two women are just jealious of of the actors bodies cause they themselves are over weight and not attractive.” Clearly two women as healthy, natural and intelligent (which adds up to attractive for sure) as Lexie and Lindsay would never be jealous of the women in the Carl’s ad. Your comment really needs to go to Anthony, not me.

BR ADMIN You Blew It. I posted a reply to your post of 9/7/14 and it was removed. It proves that you remove post that challenge your agenda and prove you many falsehoods. I do not expect this to be posted. Please remove me from your Biased Fake Phony Fraud Blog.

We have no idea what you’re referring to. We have received countless spam comments (and otherwise vicious ones we won’t publish), so it may have been lost in the mix. Feel free to repost. But you do realize we can’t “remove” you from our blog, right? You can do that by not coming here if you think it’s so “Biased Fake Phone Fraud.” Thanks!

BR Admin: Stop the Spinning. You MODERATE THE POST PRIOR TO ALLOWING IT TO STAY. If you’re not happy with the content YOU REMOVE IT. That’s the point of MODERATING. What I posted WAS NOT SPAM, it was a LEGITIMATE POST. It did not “GET LOST IN THE MIX” as you put it.

Jane — I’ve noticed that sometimes when I’ve replied to a comment, that comment I’m replying to does not show up (except in my inbox). That leaves my reply looking a little odd. Perhaps BR Admin could address this problem. I’m wondering if some comments are being lost somehow. Still a great campaign and a great forum for discussing this problem of media and the objectification of women. I for one can live with a few glitches.

Dorothy: Please note after you post just below your name is says: That is because the Moderator[s] will filter bad content etc. It also means that if the content is not “in line” with the moderator[s] agenda it is REMOVED. That is not a glitch, it is CENSORSHIP, plain and simple. That is what happened to my post.

Linds and Lex, My husband and I are on board to drop Carl’s Jr. from our burger runs for ourselves and our kids. I am really sick over the ads and how they objectify me and my daughters. We are so much more than that and we contribute to our communities in ways that the folks to enjoy these ads will never understand. I love you ladies and the work you do to help make the world better for all women, including our daughters.

A really easy way to get MEN to understand how retarded this is…lets have this same commercial with the girl…NOT gussied up and all fake…she is all greased up, sexed up….show her in real life…with her scars and real hair and no makeup and no tan and no grease….lets see how ‘sexy’ it is when we make men realize….oh, women are real? LOL yea just like you guys! Real…if she eats like that all the time, she will get cellulite just like everyone else…probably has it now but of course they use camera tricks to take that out. What does washing a car half naked with all kinds of make up and crap on have to do with burgers? I mean I’d be worried some soap would get on my burger, not to mention her body grease. How about…comedy? That seems to make commercials watchable FOR EVERYONE!. And you only want 18-35 yr old boys eating your burgers? Well shoot…that was a dumb move considering there are more women in the world than men…and more kids. So if we ‘bored housewives’ take ourselves and our kids somewhere other than your perverted establishment good luck with staying in business with just your 18-35 yr old desperate geeks alone!

just google “agenda: the grinding down of america” watch the youtube video…you will find out why this is happening. This is an agenda far more sinister than just to sell burgers…it’s a beast that will be hard to fight but nevertheless, it needs to be fought. Please watch from start to finish. This isn’t even about sex. The men themselves don’t even realize they are being victimized. They are using humans natural desires against them to dehumanize and desensitize men and children. Younger people do not value marriage as they used to and cannot connect emotionally in a relationship the way they used to because we are being brainwashed to see others as only a means for our own gratification. In the end, it’s a means to control the population and coerce it into socialism first and eventually communism. And to those who wanna scream CONSPIRACY!!!! Just read a history book…in every communist country, this is how it started…destroy the heart, the family, brainwash the children, get them to detach from human need for connection, Control the schools, their education, lie about history, cause wars between groups of people ie: blacks against whites and destroy the economy forcing nearly everyone onto government dependency. Then you have control. First, destroy their values, their faith, their churches, their morals….get them confused….it’s happening…and it’s working like a charm. We either wake up and realize that this problem is far bigger than what meets the eye…because I’m all about fighting being objectified…but there is a sicker truth to this….it needs to be fought at all levels. Wake up and stand up Christians…

Angela, you just wrote what Obama has been doing for the last 6+ years. The Muslims are winning, Americans are having less children and the Muslims, Middle Easterners here are having no less than 5 and upwards of 7-8. Check and see who is writing the children’s books for schools, it’s non other than Bill Ayes. He’s brilliant but a Progressive and an Anarchist. All of you here are worrying about Carl Jr’s and slowly but surely Sharia Law in being slipped into OUR Laws. Check Sharia for women’s rights, I should say women’s lack of rights. It appears that everyone here doesn’t see the forest for the trees.

Jane Bond and Dorothy….it’s both. Everyone wants to stop blaming Obama…and I agree because Obama is just the puppet. He alone is not causing all this AND this has been going on for over 50 years…leading up to this. It has been the agenda and the plan all along. They were behind the feminist movement, the rock music craze with it’s subliminal satanic messages, they control the entertainment industry, the media…education. It’s all been a slow brainwashing to dumb down and desensitize our youth. Now , listen….to say that fighting the Carl Jr’s is a waste of time is incorrect! Because the sexual attack on our kids is one of the BIGGEST parts of the plan! Can’t you see what the pornography industry is doing to families and individuals alike? We are bombarded with these images day in and day out. We have both mom and dad now being forced out of the home to work and yet we are being told it’s up to us what our kids watch and not the responsibility of the entertainment industry. It’s a plan. It’s working and when you see people in these forums telling us to get over it or it’s our choice what our kids watch…you have to realize, they are brainwashed. It worked on them. They are now puppets on strings and helping along with this agenda. Just like when our kids learn history in school but only learn the one sided version. Or when our kids are told, Christianity is no different than Islam or Buddhism or worshiping a cup. They are growing up in a world that is telling them that our country WAS NOT founded on Christian principles…when in fact if you see it through it WAS! They are being tricked at all levels and sexuality is a natural and beautiful desire which should be shared between two married and blessed by God people…but instead they are daily being taught that women are to be used for their own pleasure only. That women are easy for the taking. They don’t look at a woman in the eyes anymore because their songs and TV tell them to look at their legs and breasts! “BABY YOUR A SONG YOU MAKE ME WANNA ROLL MY WINDOWS DOWN” “WHEN i FIRST SAW HER HER BIKINI TOP ON HER, POPPING RIGHT OUT OF THAT SOUTH GEORGIA WATER” BLAH BLAH BLAH SOMETHING LONG LEGS….” NOT ONE word about her smile, her warm eyes…nothing like that! Just body parts! But this is considered romantic. Then you watch the video…they meet and pick up half naked girls and take them back to their cabin for a game of strip poker. WAKE UP! That’s what our kids are learning to call “love’.
This is very important to fight! They are using our basic bodily functions and needs against us. They will cause young girls to hate themselves and devalue themselves and therefore they will be easily led and they will have a hard time trusting or connecting with men. They will cause young boys to devalue women and think of them and treat them as objects. They too will not be able to truly connect or love one women. In the meantime, they are being raised without fathers or fathers who are not role models, ungodly men. Their mothers are wearing the pants and dominating everything because she has to since the men aren’t being men. They both are working and very involved in their own lives and paying little attention to their children. They are concerned about materialism and getting new cars and fancy homes. No love being taught at home either. The world is showing them that you can get a divorce easily, even encouraging people to do so…with billboards saying …DUMP YOUR SPOUSE HERE! And then down the road a Hooters billboard, stop and eat here. Then another billboard, co exist…with all the religion symbols. If you watch their cartoons and TV shows, parents are non existent. Kids rule the shows and when a parent is presented they are portrayed and dumb and out of touch. Dads are horribly made fun of and disrespected. Guys, Ladies…whoever is reading this…there is a lot that needs to be done if we want to save our kids. There is a plan out there and it’s bigger and more powerful than you can imagine. They want to turn our kids into mindless, zombies. People with no hearts, no connections, no family values, no belief systems. A person with nothing to live for…is a person who can be controlled. Cut the Carls Jr…is a part of it, even if it’s a small piece…it is a part. Any level you can fight it on is important. But we can fight it at home too. We can turn back to God. We can pray. We can shut off our TV’s. As women we can try to give power and respect back to our husbands, EVEN IF THEY DON’T DESERVE IT! We can put that leadership role back into their hands and let them figure it out. We can be mothers. WE CAN stop working if we are willing to give up some things that honestly we really do not need. We can lead our kids. Be there for them. Maybe home school if you can ….if not be VERY involved in their school. Teach them truth when you see them being taught a lie. TURN OFF YOUR TV’S!!!! PLEASE PLEASE!!!!!!! Rent some Christian family movies. Read together. Fish, hike, plant a garden….find life again. Every time you see something which is a lie…objectification is just one of them…tell your kids. Be honest with them. Let them know that there is an evil force out there fighting for their minds and hearts. We won’t be around forever to protect them. They will need to see it for themselves and we need to plant that seed.

I hear the yearning in Angela’s words for a more wholesome life for everyone, but the feminist movement to me is a very positive thing. I grew up in a Christian home in the 1960s. My older brothers (my tormentors/molesters/rapists were alter boys and eagle scouts). My father was a cruel, insensitive man, but the Church told my mother she would go to hell if she divorced him. She took refuge in Valium and Percodan. Sometimes divorce is a very positive thing. There was never a time in history when things worked, when the earth was a peaceful place, and women and children were held in high regard. The Norman Rockwell picture of family life in America is just that — a picture. That’s what my family looked like. Spirituality is extremely important to me. I doubt I go one hour without asking Jesus for help, and I do receive help continuously. But remember, Jesus was a great feminist. He also had no problem with redistribution of wealth and aiding the poor for he knew the truth that your well being is my well being — we are all one.

The original feminist movement was never intended to become what it has become ( at least not by women). It, like everything else has been hijacked and taken over by people who wish to do harm. I am so sorry that you suffered so much abuse. But please try to remember that everywhere in the world there are good and evil people and good and evil spirits. People who are evil will infiltrate any organization they want just like good people. This is why people are so turned off by religion and sadly blame God. God gave everyone free will and some choose evil. It can family members, it can be clergy, it can be teachers, neighbors, boy scout leaders etc. It doesn’t make God or the organization evil. it makes THOSE people evil. They’ve been taken over by an evil spirit and given into it. It’s horrible but it doesn’t discredit morals, God the true church or family values. God gave us order and a way in which things should be done for a reason. God is the head of man and man is the head of women. God gave man instructions on how they were to love their wives and children. It’s not Gods fault or His laws of order that destroy homes, it’s US. Those of us who choose evil or choose to not obey God. God told husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church. How does He love us? By sacrificing His very own life for us. Husbands who are not doing this but instead abusing their power are in direct disobedience to God. Many of us have been failed by men. Me included. I’ve been hurt too. My father left when I was born. My step father could care less if I were alive. I have been through divorce because my ex decided booze was more important than me and our children. I’ve been told I need breast implants, I’ve been cheated on. I’ve been mentally and physically abused. BUT this is not Gods fault. It’s the fault of the men who chose to disobey Him. In fact, if we followed Gods words, there would be peace. The bible says that there is no real good ….only God is good. The feminist movement was ok to the extent that it allowed women to divorce an abusive man or a cheating man. It was ok that it allowed a woman to work if she HAD to …her husband was injured or died. BUT it was taken over by evil minds and hearts and turned into something that is not good. Women now are not happy being what we are…we compete with men and try to be them and overrule them. We use our bodies in evil ways…instead of giving them to our husbands we give them to the world. We use our bodies to entice men who are married to other women and destroy homes and children. We also cause ourselves to be objectified and thought of as nothing more than things to be used for mens sexual pleasures. So, what did we do? We traded one form of slavery for another. We decided doing dishes, cooking and keeping a home for our families was slavery…but now we are just put on display on billboards and on stages for men to throw money at us and sexually harass us. And we call this liberation? Liberation from what? Men have grown cold towards us. We have dethroned them from the positions of loving power and de masculated them. We think we should be on the battle fields, fighting fires and doing anything else that they can…yet on the battle fields we are raped and harassed because the men are tired of women not needing them and lowering their value to nothing more than a joke. Not that their behavior is correct…it’s not…but they are growing resentful of women taking all their jobs and standing in their faces telling them that WE are the superiors…yet at the same time we expect them to be good to us and treat us with kind loving care. Then we run around giving our bodies to every man there is, sleeping with man after man and calling it sexual liberation. A man stands there wondering, even if just on a subconsciousness level….what purpose do I serve? God created man to protect us, created man to serve us with love and tenderness as the weaker sex. God created women to be mans helper and lover. To be obedient and humble. Now here we stand in their faces telling them that WE are the stronger sex, WE do not need them…and we are at the same time shedding our clothing and using our bodies to entice them. And we do this to them from the time they are boys. And we sit and wonder, what is wrong with men? They become fathers who don’t know their place or feel a sense of being needed or respected and then they fail their sons and sickness spreads from generation to generation. To be honest, women are more to blame for this mess than even The Carls jr. or men in general. We are the ones who can change it but we need to turn back to God, Gods laws and take our rightful place in society. There is NO shame in being a woman ladies. We have abilities that men do not just like they have abilities that we do not. We balance one another and help one another by meeting each other with the strengths that the other is lacking. Doing dishes, cooking =slavery? Yet a man has to go to work every single day and do hard and sometimes dangerous work…and that’s NOT slavery? In the end, we are all a slave of some sort. We need to find happiness within our roles. We need to bring back the balance.

Isn’t there another model altogether — one of individuals rather than men and women? Where a man can wash dishes if he likes, and a woman drive a tank if that’s what she feels inspired to do? Not competition, but individual self expression? One thing I think we agree on, whether we are looking at this from a spiritual standpoint or not, is that the Carl’s ads are appalling!

Dorthory, What rock have you been hiding under? Women FLY COMBAT PLANES, Men do wash dishes, woman do drive tanks, carry battle equipment including GUNS. I grant you that women’s salaries in the private sector are not up to par…YET. In the military salaries are by rank no matter what your gender. Competition is GOOD. You really need to take your head out of your posterior and see what’s going on around the world and STOP worrying about Carl Jr’s ads. I’m sorry that you do not look like any of the models that do the ads. BTW, have you checked to see the salaries of models?? They are far more than Male models. STOP BEING A VICTIM.

audra michelle
on September 11, 2014 at 11:15 am

Thank you for educating people about this. I have never been able to understand why more people are not angry with the social construct of sexuality being a tool to use to gain things. It’s very sad.

I am hoping by unchecking the “Notify me of follow-up comments by email box” below, I will quick getting email posts. If not, when Admin reviews this post, please update me to unsubscribe to these repeated comments. Thank you so much!

I won’t post anymore comments. Didn’t realize we were limited to one each. BR Admin should write that somewhere on the site so people will know and not annoy with repeated comments. I thought this was a forum / discussion format. So sorry. I have unsubscribed as well.

Don’t worry — your comments aren’t a problem! The discussion is great. Unfortunately we have repeated comments coming from spammers and people just looking to insult or fight. Those are the comments we’re referring to.

That’s a relief. Thank you for clarifying! Coming from a background of child abuse where every attempt to speak up and get help was silenced, it is enormously liberating to speak out as an adult when and where I see abuse and that which contributes to abuse (including ads like Carl’s).

Well Dorothy, we can disagree about gender roles…lol….fact is that men need to feel needed I guess was my point and we are out there trying to do it all. Let me give you an example…my husband is or WAS a firefighter. Shortly after he got into it, women began working there as well. The men were not happy. NOT because they are sexist pigs. But because you have to have serious strength to be able to get yourself and other people including your fellow fire fighters out of a burning building ..AND FAST! And even your strongest women aren’t going to be able to match the strength of a man. In the end, you putting yourself in there trying to be a hero is actually putting other peoples lives in danger. But women don’t want to be told this. It’s insulting to them. NO ITS NOT! ITS SCIENCE! Men have more muscle mass than us. Give me a break. Personally if I was in a burning building I don’t want some woman coming in there trying to pull me out…I want a man who can lift me up and carry me out if I am passed out. And then even the other things…like the hose…Have you ever tried to hold a fire hose when it’s on full pressure? Now listen,. I am a VERY strong lady. But I cannot do that job and most women can’t. So stop whining about it, ya know! At the same time, the pain we suffer in child birth is more than a man could take. They CANNOT do that! But you don’t hear them crying about it. We have roles that genetics naturally put in place…if we all were doing one role than the other role wouldn’t get fulfilled. Hence destroying the balance. We all know a man cannot really keep up with all that we have to. We are the back bones in our homes. Heck most men don’t even know how to find things in the house they’ve lived in for years. ‘Hun where is such and such’? There is the endless thinking we women have to do…the little things that no one else is gonna do but us…why is that? God made us that way. The world needed women. We already had men. They have their purpose and we have ours. It’s sad that we take our roles as an insult…it is so so far from that. And yes, we agree totally on the disgusting ads and all the other blatant displays of female objectification. But I guess what I was saying is…we are doing it to ourselves. I mean no one is forcing women on stage. No one is forcing them to pose or do these commercials. Most of them are extremely young…. insecure with themselves and looking for something to make them feel special. It’s sad that they can’t be beautiful and use their brains and talents instead of their bodies. And it’s REALLY sad when older men…watch it and like it and go for it…because these are dads who are not thinking like dads. Those are someones little girls. I think we need to not just attack them men creating these ads though…we need to start reaching our young ladies. My daughter was in cheer leading last year…2nd grade. No big deal right? The uniforms were modest and everything…good ol home town cheer. But there was this cheer…it went like this…or something like it….the sun I swear is messing up my gorgeous hair. 24, 34 …I don’t know the stupid score. So go go fight fight, gee I hope I look already I was upset. It went on about manicures and all this other garbage. Well needless to say I mentioned it to other moms who thought nothing of it. They said oh its harmless. I think NOT! 2nd grade…we are teaching them not to have team spirit but to focus on how they look? Yea Im good. She isnt in it this year.

Jane Bond, you are on here for some reason obviously You continue to sling insulting words and you keep following this post in order to do so. Then you say you are sorry that Dorothy isn’t as pretty as a model? I’m sorry I didn’t notice photos on here to prove or disprove such things?.But since you want to sound so arrogant…let me enlighten you. My mother was in the modeling industry for years. Her and I were always told we looked identical. So as a young misguided girl I decided to try my hand at it as well. There was one big difference. She was 5’8 and I was 5’3. I wasn’t chosen needless to say. So for no other reason than height. Also I’d like to add that my mother without all the get up and camera tricks etc…is really just a pretty girl. Nothing fancy. Nor am I. In fact NONE of the models who are dubbed ‘pretty enough’ are really all that glamorous until the camera gets a hold of them. You have NO IDEA what they go through in order to make them look like a goddess from heaven. As I said earlier, why don’t we see these ladies in our every day? They must keep them in a cave somewhere and only pull them out occasionally for photo shoots? Indeed its nothing more than eye trickery. So then you take your fooled and foolish mind and attack Dorothy, knowing NOTHING about her? I also dated a photographer. He took shots of models every day. At first when I heard this my jealous heart didn’t know if I could stand it. Until he invited me to a shoot. They had zits, cellulite, crooked teeth, stringy hair and every other misfortune that attacks all of human nature. He simple airbrushed it all out. When I told him I was a bit jealous, that is why he invited me to see. Honestly there were some ‘models’ that I LOOKED better without the camera tricks. He laughed at me and said…see? I finally got it. Then he did a photo shoot of me. And then he edited it. I had peaches and cream skin when he got done with me. I didn’t even have pores! LOL ever notice how models in magazines magically have no pores? It’s actually bizarre. Any veins I had were gone, cellulite, gone…my hair was made longer and silky…I was like OMG I am HOT! LOL…but reality is, I am pretty. Even with my flaws. That photographer was a blessing to my life because he really taught me a lot. I stopped feeling like i was somehow less than anyone…even the girls on tv or in magazines. BUT my fight is to open eyes of men and people like you! You didn’t even care if you hurt Dorothy’s feelings, you just opened your mouth and spewed hateful words all based on your obvious ignorance of what beauty really is. I would suggest to BR administration that if you continue to be a troll in here and have nothing decent to say to anyone…maybe you should be banned from this forum. Dorothy I’m sorry some people are cruel but as I said earlier….they are the sheep, the brainwashed and they are unknowingly helping to perpetuate the lies and hurt.

Angela, I think that “Jane Bond” should count to 10, read a comment again and then reply. I actually expressed a preference for a society based upon individual talents and individual ideas of beauty rather than lumping people into limiting categories and restricting roles (i.e. beautiful defined as thin as a rail with surgically-enhanced boobs and proper roles defined as women washing and cleaning and men out in the world). As for my looks — of course I don’t look like any models on American television because I’m in my fifties with grey hair! One should wonder why there are not more models in their fifties (or 60s or 70s or 80s or 90s)? Beauty as it is defined in American media is perversely limited. “Jane” is just trying to take the focus away from what is important in this campaign and pick a personal fight (I suspect Jane is actually not a woman). Women are a powerful force together as consumers, and we will fight ads that work against our well being. Where in that is “being a victim” as “Jane” accuses? I loved what you shared about your height and modelling! I was tall at an early age (am 5′ 10″ now), and very thin. That was considered the stuff of jokes. The obsessive focus on women’s bodies distracts us from higher endeavors. That is tragic for young girls.

I am a fully recovered former-addict to pornography. It was a long 7 year trial in my life, and I can honestly remember my first time I encountered pornography as a young 12 year old boy after watching a Carl’s Jr. commercial. In not blaming others for my actions but I will say this commercial was the beginning of the hell I went through. This is a serious issue!

Please don’t forget that in many states, including Minnesota where I live, there are no Carl’s Jr. restaurants. However, Carl’s Jr. owns Hardee’s – same colors, logo, and corporate parent. I’d hate to think about some reader of your site, proud to be #CuttingtheCarls while sitting in a Minnesota or Wisconsin Hardee’s, not realizing it’s the same thing.

As pornography use increases, see crimes decrease. http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/28803/title/Porn–Good-for-us-/
So, maybe women are psychologically harmed by seeing other women portrayed sexually, but it certainly does not lead to abuse and assault as you say. Your (and pretty much all of feminisms) understanding of male psychology is deeply and fundamentally flawed. And is that really such a surprise? When has any group ever been able to accurately explain the thoughts and feelings of another group? Why should women be the single exception. Talk about women and their feelings all you want, but please stop pretending you have any insight into how men function. It is sexist and demeaning. Not to mention, as others have pointed out, your derogatory and sexist put down and shaming of socially awkward men in the last line.